Western Kentucky is rated as being in "severe" drought, according to the University of Kentucky Agricultural Weather Center.

Since approximately three-quarters of an inch of rain fell May 5, only spotty precipitation has been seen here.

As of Wednesday, just 1.67 inches had fallen in the previous 30 days at Henderson — 2.70 inches less than normal — making this one of the driest places in Kentucky.

While areas to the west such as Paducah and Princeton have been even drier, portions of central and eastern Kentucky have enjoyed 3 inches to nearly 7 inches over the past month, the U.K. ag weather center reported.

Approaching hot temperatures will exacerbate the drought; daily high temperatures of 90 degrees or warmer are forecast for five consecutive days starting today, with highs of 95 expected Saturday and Sunday, and with no sight of rain, according to the National Weather Service.

"Lawns are drying out," Porter noted. "Vegetable gardens are hurting. Everything was planted early, but if you're not watering, everything is standing still."

Even young trees are struggling. "Trees, especially those planted the last two or three years, need supplemental water" to help ward off insect or disease damage.

"Slow and deep watering" is what's called for, Porter said. "Use a trickle hose or soaker hose, or a hose set to run slow at the base of the tree, and let it run for several hours. If you can, it's best to keep it near the base ... There can be a lot of (fungal) diseases when moisture is on that plant surface," especially at night.

Two or three inches of mulch, grass clippings or leaves can help reduce moisture loss from the soil in vegetable gardens and beneath shrubs. Porter suggested either water first or placing a soaker hose down and covering it with mulch.

Clover has been prominent in some lawns this spring, but Porter advised against using a broadleaf herbicide now; with grass already weakened by the drought, coming in contact with a chemical that it normally could tolerate "can stress the lawn out."

"Wait until fall or next spring" to spray, he suggested.

Meanwhile, warmer-than-normal temperatures in late winter are contributing to fire blight in pear and apple trees, including ornamental pear and crabapple trees, Porter said. If the bacteria is observed in only a branch or two, pruning those branches is possible, though he said pruners should be sanitized with rubbing alcohol after each cut to prevent spreading the disease.

Meanwhile, crops in fields are struggling as well.

Some earlier-planted corn may be mature enough that its roots can burrow down in search of moisture, Henderson County Agricultural Extension Agent Mike Smith said.

But with young corn plants, the dry soils "are inhibiting the deep-rooting system; it's actually keeping the roots from going down. If they could just touch moisture, they would follow it down," Smith said. "So young corn is really hurting right now."

"Sweet corn could die if we do not get some rain," Porter said.

"The soybeans, I have no idea how they're doing it," Smith said. "It's phenomenal with what (little rain) we've got. Soybeans will wait, though. They'll sit dormant, and when we get moisture, they will start growing."

What's frustrating is that plenty of rain is falling just to the east.

"I've got a farm in Ohio County that has gotten 2.68 inches in the past two weeks," Smith said. "It's not a 50-mile drive from here. It's unreal."

One farm near Reed did get an inch of rain recently, he said, "and it was on irrigated ground."

Meanwhile, the winter wheat crop "is drying exceedingly fast. Probably late next week, we will see the harvest begin to start," which would be two to three weeks earlier than normal, Smith said.

A late freeze on the night of April 12 hurt the wheat just as it was flowering. A Kentucky Mesonet automated weather station near Graham Hill recorded a low of 30.4 degrees, while some farmers along Airline Road reported temperatures as low as 28.

Yield losses may range from 5 to 7 percent on higher ground to as much as 70 percent on low, flat fields, Smith said.

"You can't tell it by driving by," he said, but the wheat heads in the worst-hit areas "have no grain."